aha...but you're not considering is the Harmony forum regs. Those guys have huge post counts, never leave their little pond, and do nothing but direct first timers to Level2 phone support...oooohhh

even though I do glance it from time to time, I don't spend enough time there to know any of the guys that just stick there (nor what they post about). On the other hand, if something as simple as "call harmony" helps the person, why is that not a quality answer?

While calling harmony is a valid avenue of support IMO it counters the spirit of forums.Im not complaining about the guys who post "call harmony" just pointing out why i prefer forum support.

I love forums and search engines because i can type any question into the search box and find someone else with the same question and a bunch of others with the solution.

I hate calling for support. You have to stop what your doing, find the number, place the call, wait on hold, explain the problem to the operator, wait on hold, explain the problem again to the tech, the tech start guessing at what could be wrong and it takes forever.

If im the 3rd or 4th guy with a problem with a new remote.. chances are that someone else already called support and posted about it in a message forum.

I handle all finances online now and i dont have any paper bills or statements coming to my house. I dont even have a check book anymore.

And.. i absolutely love websites that have chat support because again.. i hate the telephone run around. If im on hold waiting for chat support i can do other stuff on the computer vs. trying to hold the phone to my ear or listening carefully via speakerphone.

Another great use of Chat and forums & email is that you are more productive. In an office.. if you had to get up, walk over to someone else, play the "hi how you doing did you catch the game what about those bears" just to give them a 1 sentence message your wasting time all day long plus they dont have a hard copy of the message. At our office we use chat to talk to people who are sitting 5 feet away.

Calling tech support is definately a quality answer and in the case of a CE product like harmony its probably the best answer.

While calling harmony is a valid avenue of support IMO it counters the spirit of forums. Im not complaining about the guys who post "call harmony" just pointing out why i prefer forum support.....

I don't disagree, I spent a lot of time on here and that is for a good reason. My point is that sometimes "call tech" can be the right answer (plus I am guessing if someone has many posts on he Harmoney forum that it is not the only thing he posts. Many years ago Philips released a bad batch of Prontos, when ever someone saw a post regarding that issue (it was years ago, and I can't remeber the issue) the answer was "call tech and give them the serial number." Some years ago the creators of Harmony added a patch to their site where you could add Pronto HEX codes to the DB, eventually it was taken off (I am guessing it was causing too many issues) they still have the ability to add HEX codes manually in the back end, but users can't. So if someone asks " I found a Pronto file with the HEX codes I need how do a teach them to my Harmony?" the right answer would be "call tech support".

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